Last week, I won Animax-Asia’s Nodame Cantabile twitter contest and got myself a pair of free tickets to watch Nodame Cantabile – The Final Score: Part 1. Thus, my brother and I made our way down to GV Bishan to watch it.
Nodame Cantabile – The Final Score: Part 1 carries on from where the TV series SPs’ left off. Megumi “Nodame” Noda (Juri Ueno) and Shinichi Chiaki (Hiroshi Tamaki) and now living in Paris, where Nodame has just completed a successful recital and Chiaki having won a conductors competition. While Nodame is still studying in a conservatory, Shinichi struggles to find a job as a professional conductor. When the Roux-Marlet Orchestra in Paris offers him the position of resident conductor, he immediately takes it, not knowing what awaits him there…
Since it directly continues from the TV specials, we are thrust directly into the story, with minimal introduction. While prior knowledge of the series is not strictly required, people who don’t follow the manga/anime or TV series might feel lost at certain points in the movie. Thus it is recommended that you at least read a synopsis of the manga or TV series before watching the movie, so as to gain a better appreciation and understand the back-story. Unlike, the TV series and specials which are seemingly more light hearted, the movie pacing is slower and more deliberate. There might be less comedic scenes in the movie (the various animated dream sequences and the Nodame Curry Incident should still provide plenty of laughs), but this allows the plot to develop more fluently and develops not just the characters but their relationships as well.
Juri Ueno (Swing Girls, Last Friends) and Hiroshi Tamaki (Water Boys, Heavenly Forest) once again give stellar performances as the two lead characters. Naoto Takenaka’s Franz Stresemann has less screen-time but is still hilarious. Fans of the TV series will be happy to know that the original cast from the Momogaoka Academy back in Japan do make a cameo in the movie, with hints that they will get more screen-time come the second movie.
The on-location shoots in Paris, Austria and the Czech Republic gives the film an authentic feel and fits well, despite it being a Japanese movie. Classical music buffs will likely enjoy the myriad of orchestral music in the movie, from Bach to Tchaikovsky. Classical music newbies like myself need not feel left out as our favourite conductor Shinichi takes the time to give a brief history of the main pieces which he conducts during the movie.
With a brilliant mix of classical music, comedy and romantic drama, Nodame Cantabile prove to be a movie which transcends the language and cultural barrier, allowing us a glimpse into the lives of aspiring musicians. This just might be one of those movies which prove that music might indeed be the universal language.
Thanks once again to JasmineAtAnimax and Calvin Wong from SPE Networks – Asia for the tickets!
Note: Movie-goers might want to take note that there is a trailer for the second movie after the credits. I’ve included a trailer below just in-case some of you guys missed it… The second movie is slated to be released on April 17th in Japan. No news of a Singapore release yet.
2nd Movie Trailer:
[youtube qMszI_v6LvE]